Art of Domination began life on the mspaforums, which as of this writing still remains inactive. I’ve decided to quit waiting for it to come back and instead I will continue this adventure on eagle-time.com

In the event that mspaforums returns, I will update this story on both websites and accept suggestions from both.

If this is your first time experiencing Art of Domination, then I recommend you check out the mirror, though it isn’t up to date with the latest posts before the mspaforums went into a coma:http://mspfanventures.com/?s=289

Here’s a quick recap:

SpoilerShow

In the year 2234, Vorador Mortanius, Commander of the First Arm in the Saramis Alliance was tasked with annexing a human colony called Planet-117, as well as either the capture or death of the colony’s leader, President Ignatius Smith. The President of said colony was found guilty of attacking a nearby Saramis colony and abducting its inhabitants for inhumane experiments.

Landing on Region 3, Vorador’s forces encountered a creature never before seen: A massive brain capable of inducing its victims to commit suicide. It would only be the first of many monstrosities they would fight.

Vorador learned that there is a book known as the Art of Domination that convinces its readers that they are in a war of extinction, with a designated foe. Its contents were different depending on who read it; a saramis would be told that they must exterminate humans, while a human reader would be told that the saramis are their mortal enemies. These books were completely indestructible, created by a race of beings known as the Ul’nayeth, or Authors, orchestrating mass extinction events throughout the galaxy by pitting species at war with each other.

Eventually, Vorador succeeded in gaining full control over Region 3, hiring a saramis mercenary and explosives expert named Anna ‘Hawkeyes’ Reznov who was once part of Smith’s army. Hawkeyes would become romantically involved with Ghulls Maranis, Vora’s adjutant and cousin.

A second Commander from the Saramis Alliance, Rainhar Kasar, joins the campaign. Though he suffers from extreme libido, he is ultimately helpful in providing advice and suggestions.

Vora continued her campaign despite all the strangeness she encountered: The revelation that the moon was a tomb for an Author, the existence of a creature called Alone, a magical Rat-king named Cheet-Cheet, and the nigh-invincible Dominator form that a person could transform into if they finish reading the Art of Domination.

Cheet-Cheet’s disciple arrives in Vora’s territory, and reveals himself to be the true Ignatius Smith, who was wiped from everyone else’s memories. The one actually in power was his vice president, Robert North. North made a deal with the Authors: Everyone would remember him as the real Ignatius Smith, but the actual person must be kept alive or else the effect is reversed.

All this time, Smith was being held prisoner and consistently tortured in an attempt to make him forget his identity. It failed, and he was able to escape.

Vora receives a distress signal from the enemy’s stronghold region, Region One. It was sent by General Feathers, who was actually an AI abducted from the Human Federation to help Robert North’s military anticipate future attacks. Francoise, another AI, was also recruited.

Two hackers named Linesman and Kuroda also decided to defect, adding more assets to the campaign. Dr. Ushah, a local psychiatrist has willingly joined to help Vora understand the enemy better, with assistance from Feathers and Francoise. Vora’s two sons, Harix and Malco, have also been drafted into the army, and have reached Planet-117.

Meanwhile on the Saramis Homeworld, an organization known as the Saramis Purity Union attempted to commit xenocide, attacking primarily humans who happened to be on the planet. General Lagantis Primevex, Vorador’s husband, discovered that some members of High Command was corrupted by the Art of Domination and had deemed him an enemy of the state. Lagantis began a rebellion, prevented a mass murder, and witnessed a strange vision from the future telling him that Dr. Koda Serivi, a genius geneticist, was key to foiling the Authors.

Lagantis meets up with Intruder, a renegade Author inhabiting a corpse who was hell-bent on stopping the Magnum Opus, the grand plan of the other Authors. After some distrust, the two co-operate.

Though Koda was wounded, she was ultimately rescued. Koda takes the general to her lab, where he finds out that Koda and her researchers succeeded in creating human-saramis hybrids. The two hybrid children were immune to the effects of the Art of Domination, seeing its contents as pure gibberish.

As it turned out, both humans and saramis were genetically modified by the Authors to become more similar to an ancient race known as the Asal, a species that was extremely gifted with traits that would benefit survival. However, they were rendered extinct by an unknown, massive empire. Through exploiting this similarity, humans and saramis hybrids became possible, forming the Asalin.

Lagantis then succeeds in entering High Command’s HQ, and finds himself in a pocket world where a Cosmic Organ was being held captive. Intruder explained that the universe itself was alive, and the enemy had succeeded in capturing an organ which was able to alter the laws of physics. The corrupted foes were deliberately torturing the organ to erase the saramis Homeworld, along with Lagantis on it. Apparently, he was such a high threat that the corrupted High Command saw it was worth it to wipe out an entire planet just to kill one man.

General Lagantis and his allies proceed to attack the fortress holding the Cosmic Organ.

Meanwhile, back on Planet-117…

The Human Federation acknowledges the threat of the Authors and the Art of Domination, and sent Vora a gift: A Doomcat named Grenda, essentially a sapient cat piloting a small but powerful mech.

In the sixth week of the campaign, Vora has decided to directly attack Region 1’s minor labs located above-ground. As Feathers predicted, it was completely unexpected and her forces succeeded in destroying much of the enemy’s research facilities as well as stealing intel from data drives.

Robert North’s army has mounted a counter-attack with a massive horde led by an enemy General with psychic powers, and Vora is trying to evacuate her forces.

Here is also a dropbox link for almost everything I've made for the adventure before this point:

Feathers: Quite, but psionics affects all living organics on some level, even if they lack neurons. Whatever the Car of Destiny is made of, it's powerful enough to even affect brainless creatures.

Rainhar: Okay, pause for a second. How, exactly, DOES psionics work?

Feathers: Here is the simplest way to explain it: Organic creatures emit and receive a form of energy that can only be received by other organics. Potential energy and chemical energy can be converted into psionic energy, and can be converted again into a more tangible form once it is received by a living creature. Psionics can be detected by non-living things, but only because the transmission from organism to organism is lossy; a little of that energy can manifest itself into heat or sound.

Rainhar looks exasperated, but still paying attention.

Feathers: We don't fully understand why it works, but psionics affects every living creature regardless of whether they have brains or not. With sufficient power a psionic weapon can cause a creature's cells to ignite by overloading it with energy.

You: NOW you explain this?

Feathers: I only recently understood this after seeing a bit of the data your forces brought back. I had speculation on its mechanics, but not hard facts.

Rainhar: I have to ask this: Is there a unit of measurement for this stuff? Like, how much power would be enough to ignite people?

Feathers: In Region One, they measured psionic strength in Fikir. Fikir was chosen as it is Malay for 'Think', and to ignite a cluster of cells you would require at least 800 Fikir, far more than any ordinary human brain would be able to emit. For reference, an average human being, with full focus, should be able to generate between 10 to 16 Fikir.

You: So there might be a cluster of psychics just conjuring these Cars of Destiny up from thin air?

Feathers: Possible. Psionics can be gathered to form a visible weapon, but it must demand a lot of time and effort to create one. To conjure a weapon that can remain stable for a long time, especially so.

You shift your focus to the troops on the ground.

Grenda: Commander, the airstrikes hit the mark. The sword-portal thing sent one back but the rest wrecked him.

Notes:
Operation was a success, despite the surprise horde and the appearance of a hitherto unknown enemy. We were able to recover massive amounts of intel and were able to substantially hamper the enemy's research efforts in developing new weaponry.
[/quote]

====

WEEK 6, DAY 3, 08 33 hours

Dr. Ushah: Commander, we need to talk about the green-haired woman we rescued from the Murderhouse.

You: What about her?

Dr. Ushah: After thorough examination, we’ve all come to the conclusion that she isn’t human.

You: What do you mean?

Dr. Ushah: Her cells have no DNA. They LOOK like human cells, but under close scrutiny they’re not even organic.

You: The hell?

Dr. Ushah: That’s not all. If you give her cells an electrical shock, they actually change shape and texture.

Dr. Ushah: Frankly? Nothing. They're all malformed, either incomplete or with so many parts sticking out that they can't do anything. There’s more, though. Her brain structure is bizarre. Look at this scan of her brain.

You: It... I'm pretty sure human brains don’t look like that.

Dr. Ushah: Yes, exactly. If we were to cut her cranium open, we would find a gel-like form instead of a proper cerebral cortex. Instead, it's a network of microscopic computers, all of it doing their best to behave like a human brain despite having a very different structure.

You: So does this mean she's an Autonomous Nanocolony Operative? Like we saw in the enemy’s files?

Dr. Ushah: Most likely yes, but a failed one. She cannot manufacture any viruses or other form of harmful bioweapons.

You: Is she conscious? Sentient?

Dr. Ushah: Yes. Give her ordinary clothes and she could pass for an ordinary young lady. She is fully aware of her status as an artificial creature, and claims she was specifically created to kill as many people as possible.

You: Is she hostile to us now?

Dr. Ushah: No, and that's part of why they considered her a failure. She was not convinced of their reasoning that the Saramis Alliance posed an existential threat to humanity. Since she was also unable to read the Art of Domination due to her nature as a nanocolony, they couldn't brainwash her either.

You: So, what, they just threw her into the Murderhouse?

Dr. Ushah: Not quite. The ‘house’ just appeared in her holding cell, and swallowed her up without anyone's intervention. They may have expected her to just die off. Oh, and with regards to the house's interior, the subject claims she has no memory of it. She does not know why her feet were severely injured and full of oak splinters, nor why she was suffering from dehydration and exhaustion.

You: Does she have a name?

Dr. Ushah: Emmy. No last name. They didn't give her a serial number or something like that because they wanted her to get used to infiltrating colonies. Having a name to answer to was meant to make it easier. The idea was that these operatives would be sent into colonies as stowaways and give the cover story of running away from Saramis soldiers. Then the nanomachine generators would activate once the subject is in the middle of a large crowd. Any dead skin cells on the epidermis would be re-configured and turned into a plague, spread by touch.

You: A walking virus generator.

Dr. Ushah: Right. Luckily for us, Emmy is co-operative and has consented to give us tissue samples. Though her nanomachines are defective, they are still very sophisticated and have opened up a new avenue of research. We’ve been able to come up with some useable designs and we’d like your feedback on which of these projects we should prioritize on.

== NANOMACHINE PROJECTS ===

(Select one. The project will be completed at the start of next week (Week 7)

1 - Healing-grenade: The nanomachines can be used to heal wounds rapidly, and we’ve come up with a design that would allow these tiny devices to be spread airborne and repair damaged cells. We need further testing and programming to make it capable of saving troops from critical condition without causing trauma or risk the creation of tumors.

2 -Gun-mounted Ammunition Factory: Meant to serve as an emergency device, the GAF can generate ammunition out of almost any material inserted into it. Stone bullets, bone bullets, iron bullets, all possible as long as the material is there. Though they will be less effective than our standard ammunition, it will give our troops a chance if they were cut off from supplies. It will also allow Spec Ops teams to operate for a very long time. In the future, we might be able to create one that can build simple energy cells for laser weapons.

3 - Poisonbane: A pill that can recognize poison inside a person’s body and prevent it from spreading further by surrounding the poison and forcing them out via the gut. Poisonous substances that traditionally have no antidote can now be countered. Might help us foil assassination attempts or installed on our Biochemical Attack Response Armor as filters.

4 - Blob Drone: Remote-controlled blobs with camera-orbs that can move through any hole that’s at least one inch wide. These semi-organic machines can serve as scouts by entering tiny holes as well as maintain surveillance by hiding in tiny nooks and crevices. They have no offensive capability but they are difficult to destroy without the use of fire or electricity.

5 - Cover Blob: The Cover Blob is able to block enemy projectiles and tests have shown considerable resistance to laser-based weapons. It can be ordered via electrical signals to move alongside a friendly unit. The cover blob can be installed onto vehicles and deployed when the unit is under fire, adding another layer of protection behind our energy-based shields. For infantry units, the Cover Blob can also be used to block off paths and create bottlenecks.

6- Synthetic Agent: The Synthetic Agent is our version of the enemy’s Nanomachine colony operative. Our version lacks the capability of manufacturing bioweapons, but has considerable shapeshifting capability. They can be used as decoys or spotters for our units. They can also be placed within civilian communities as spies. However, they lack sentience and require a living pilot to control it from afar.

Hmm. Would the Poisonbane be able to defend against those Pretender worms? We have equipment to protect our soldiers from them, but it might be good for noncombat operatives or to help civilian populations. (It could be useful for civilian populations in general.)

I can't see an immediate need filled by any of the other options, but maybe I'm forgetting something. I guess the laser protection offered by the Cover Blob might be helpful against the Triple-Cores.

Other than that, these mostly fall under "nice to have" rather than allowing us to deal with problems we've been facing. If we don't have a specific need (and maybe we do but I'm forgetting about it), I'd be inclined to go with Poisonbane for the potential benefit to civilians.

I guess the healing grenade falls under that category, too. Civilians don't really need to throw grenades at each other, but presumably we could work out other delivery systems for their use.

Hi! I always meant to start reading this adventure, but there was so many threads to catch up so I kept it on the backlog. Thanks for that handy recap to bring me up to speed, but I still have some questions:

-What is the Murderhouse? Is it the destroyed research site for artificial life, and was it affiliated with the Terran Federation or Robert North?
-What's Car of Destiny?
-Where is Vora retreating to? What's her base of operations and what are the forces available to her?

Okay, the basic answer to the first two questions is "the enemy makes some messed-up stuff".

The Murderhouse is an ordinary-looking house that appears out of nowhere, catches people inside it, and leaves them dead. Though it's not certain what happens inside, circumstantial evidence suggests it makes them run for a very long time. It appeared suddenly here and dumped Emmy out, we just happened to be on-scene in time to save her. We actually don't have any concrete evidence that it's one of North's projects; we know very little about it overall.

The Car of Destiny is a car that doesn't seem to actually exist. It drives through things and causes explosions? I may be misremembering, it's been a while since it was originally explained. From the most recent update, it seems to be a very powerful psionic projection.

Our base of operations is in Region 3. Troop details will have to wait for Mayu, unless someone else has been keeping careful notes and posts them here.

(06-23-2016, 03:15 PM)tronn Wrote: »-Where is Vora retreating to? What's her base of operations and what are the forces available to her?

A map of the planet:

Vora's base of operations is in Region 3. Region 4 is also now under her control.

YOUR CURRENT FORCES
*An asterisk denotes that they are new arrivals sent by Lagantis.

Saramis Alliance Regular Army Troops

From General Madnas Kotoro Each battalion, saramis and human alike will now be provided with rapid combat vehicles (Sahela-9). The Sahela-9 has room for 6 people; 5 soldiers per squad and 1 passenger. More information on the Sahela-9 can be found in the Ground Vehicles Section of the Omni-Factory Production List.

Ghulls: He was leading an expedition to stop the corrupted members of High Command from wiping out the planet, but according to everyone on the ground… he’s vanished. He WON, but everyone says he disappeared into thin air as soon as they entered the enemy’s command center. There’s nothing inside anymore. Just… empty. He was trying to stop an Author in a saramis body from activating a Cosmic Organ.

You: Wait, Cosmic Organ? Are you telling me-

Ghulls: Well, according to Lagan and his followers, the universe is alive, and it has organs we normally can’t perceive.

You: So they’ve found it, then?

Ghulls: Yes, but both it and Lagan are gone. Nobody knows where they are now. The Author in disguise is missing too.

SWITCHING ===>

You are now Lagantis Primevex, and you are in very deep trouble.

You have come face to face with Courage, an Author in saramis form. Even now you can sense menace and power radiating from him.

You are unable to move your arms or legs. Hell, you can't even feel them anymore.

Courage: Don't bother struggling. I've already shut off your nerves.

His voice reminds you of string instruments being played very badly and glass being smashed.

You: Why are you doing this? You’ve lost. The Cosmic Organ is not in your hands anymore.

Courage: You know, being an Author who loves tales of bravery and sacrifice, I also happen to know a thing or two about fear. I know what you're scared of, Lagan.

You're not afraid of death. You're not afraid of losing your family either. Well, there's a smidge of that fear, but it's not the biggest.

It's something deeper. Even more intimate. Even more personal, and I know what it is.

You're scared of becoming a complete monster.

I know you're terrified of the day you become addicted to that feeling.

That wonderful delight you get, the kind you only get when you know you've beaten someone beyond all hope of ever making a comeback. When you've ground your foe's hopes into paste. You love it. You LOVE watching hope shatter. You don’t just kick people when they’re down, you stomp them into dust and send their remains into the sun.

It's the reason why you wouldn't ever murder off an entire race.

Not just because you think it's morally wrong, but because you think that would be the first step into monstrousness. Putting people into despair or disillusionment is one thing, or so you say, but genocide is another.

As if the moment you cause the extinction of an entire civilization, you have crossed the bounds and can never come back.

You're scared that you will never redeem yourself, and then you will have no choice but to play the villain until you die. The fear that once you commit that sin, you will be marked forever and no one, not even your wife Vora, would forgive you.

The fear of becoming an all-devouring monster with neither compassion nor hesitation. A creature that would solve all rebellions with utter annihilation.

Am I wrong?

You say nothing.

His face is cracking open.

Courage: Doesn't matter whether you answer me or not. That was more of a... rhetorical? Hypothetical? Point is, I KNOW your fear, Lagan.

It's kind of funny, really, how it drove the decisions you made in your life.

You started sending little letters and gifts to Vora after she went through her tests for candidacy in Spec Ops, all the way back when she was a young, reluctant recruit.

The official line, the lie you tell everyone including yourself, is that she's 'crazy' in the same way that you are, obsessed with doing what's 'right' and 'just'.

The more shameless aspect of you just tells everyone you have a fetish for tomboys.

But the real reason is much simpler: She's stronger than you.

She was someone who could keep you in line. Stop you before you'd make a mistake.

Despite being only eighteen, her infantry combat abilities were off the charts.

Only above average in battlefield tactics, but that wouldn't matter much in a one-on-one duel.

She was one of the few people in the world who wouldn't break a sweat killing you, and you knew it.

A failsafe. An emergency stop button.

Granted, that's not all she is to you. At least, not anymore.

Still, kinda fucked up that you chose her mainly because she could end you before you become a one-man extinction event.

You: What. Is. Your. Point?

Courage: My point being that I know EXACTLY what you're afraid of. I know you're terrified of being turned into a monster, and I can make it happen.

You: Is that a threat?

Courage: No.

It's a promise.

Time is short. Courage is focused on your head right now, and you can feel some control over your limbs returning. However, your head feels like it’s about to split open like his.

Oof, what a time to be cut off from the archives. I feel like the renegade Author (whose name escapes me at the moment) gave us some sort of advice about dealing with Authors, but I can't remember what it was. (Criticize their work, maybe?) So I don't know if it would be useful here or not.

Unless we can get a reminder on that, I'm for rushing for the hopefully-an-exit. Definitely don't go shoving your arm in the loop, that's almost certainly a terrible idea.

(06-26-2016, 10:14 PM)Dragon Fogel Wrote: »Oof, what a time to be cut off from the archives. I feel like the renegade Author (whose name escapes me at the moment) gave us some sort of advice about dealing with Authors, but I can't remember what it was. (Criticize their work, maybe?) So I don't know if it would be useful here or not.

The renegade Author's name is Intruder, and his advice was that the only way to kill an Author is to make them believe they are NOT an Author. He described one sure-fire way was to make a drug that would render them incapable of remembering what's real and what isn't, then convincing them that they can be killed conventionally.

An Author's ability to manipulate organic matter is so strong that even they aren't immune to it. Imagine an 'omnipotent' being that accidentally wished that it wasn't 'omnipotent' and being stuck that way.

ah I remember writing several paragraphs of heckling against the authors on the old forum for being self-inserting hacks

"Oh is that the super spooky form you chose to go with when you pop out of your disguise? I thought when I designed you guys I made it scarier. I must have been sloshed to think it was anything but some tryhard <halloween-like holiday for saramis> shit. Anyway can you quit making noise and go back to what I told your division to do?
...or will I have to remind you?"

Let it be known, Lagantis is already past the point of no return. After all, they're Lagantis Fucking Primevex, the galaxy-dominator who created authors through the sheer enormity of their personality alone.

If we're going for convincing him he's not an author, it may be more effective to convince him he's a pawn.

"Please. Whatever ideas they may have put in your brain, you're not really an Author. You're just a brainwashed Saramis footsoldier with a bunch of phony memories shoved in your head. Why would an Author risk exposing themselves when they can send someone else to do the dirty work for them? They know we can destroy them, after all."

And if he doubts that you can destroy them, tell him "well of course they wouldn't give you any memories about that, they've got no reason to let their disposable pawns think they're not invincible."

(06-27-2016, 12:26 AM)Dragon Fogel Wrote: »If we're going for convincing him he's not an author, it may be more effective to convince him he's a pawn.

"Please. Whatever ideas they may have put in your brain, you're not really an Author. You're just a brainwashed Saramis footsoldier with a bunch of phony memories shoved in your head. Why would an Author risk exposing themselves when they can send someone else to do the dirty work for them? They know we can destroy them, after all."

And if he doubts that you can destroy them, tell him "well of course they wouldn't give you any memories about that, they've got no reason to let their disposable pawns think they're not invincible."

Of course, if he doesn't seem to be wavering at all, just run.

I'm with this, maybe add in some mumbo jumbo about how he's set himself up to fail simply be entwining himself into a direct confrontation with one of the key characters in the magnum opus something only a pawn would do. Basically if he's going to try and fuck with our head we gotta fuck with his harder.

*AS I RECALL* authors become mortal and take risk of dying when they decide to enter the stories, which is why most only pull strings, or use a proxy like the guy with the sword through his chest that acts as an author's receiver.

I see no such thing here to indicate there's a proxy involved. So this guy is manifesting, and is therefore subject to being harmed.

I want Lagan to helicopter kick that ugly face through the rectangle. The inorganic material of his metal legs being what makes contact would hopefully prevent any harm that handling the author with organic material may incur.

This would also have the benefit of removing him from our presence so we can hopefully not be head exploded, should it not actually kill him.

You pull down his pants, and in a flash of madness and brilliance you slam your fist into his balls.

He collapses onto the floor, making a noise that resembles a knife scraping against stone.

(06-27-2016, 12:26 AM)Dragon Fogel Wrote: »If we're going for convincing him he's not an author, it may be more effective to convince him he's a pawn.

You: If you really are an Author, then why does it hurt so much?

Courage: Wh…what?

You: Why the hell did you even give yourself a pair of balls in the first place? Or… did someone else turn you into this?

Courage: Ugghh- You imbecile, the disguise has to be perfect!

You: Okay but you’re telling me you gave yourself pain receptors too? You just scored an own goal here, buddy. That is, assuming it really WAS your choice… Maybe you’re a pawn after all.

Courage: No, no NO. Lagan, shut up and-

You: I think it’s far more likely that instead of the Authors being so infinitely stupid that one of them would actually show up in this dimension with an anatomy so accurate that it becomes a handicap, they’ve got an agent who thinks he’s one of them. Work as their mouthpiece.

Courage: I am NOT-

Despite his protests, his head is re-forming. You take it as a sign that he’s doubting his status as an Author.

You: I mean, what kind of a hack author puts himself in their own work? Courage, if that IS your name… are you sure your memories are real?

No answer.

You leave him on the floor, and walk towards the exit. You haven’t fully convinced him yet, but you’ve planted the seed of doubt. Perhaps that will be enough.

However, as you stand before the exit, you realize that your body is too big to fit through. You test it by putting a finger through, and a foul-smelling tentacle reaches out.

You almost pull your hand back until you hear a familiar voice. It’s Intruder, the Renegade Author and awkward ally.

Intruder: I’m going to kill him.

You: No. We can use him. We wait and let the doubt take him.

Intruder: I know what you’re going for, Lagan, but I am telling you we should kill him right now and prevent unpleasant surprises. If you insist on letting him live, then at least let me imprison him. We cannot leave him be and risk your plan backfiring.

You consider this for a moment.

- “Considering all the nonsense we’ve had to fight through, killing him might be the smartest option. All right. Do what you must.”

Hell. No. That's a fully powered author, no proxy stuff getting in the way, and hostile to us. It'll only be a matter of time before they think past the doubt we've placed on him, and it'll be nasty they he does. We need info, but we're not that desperate.